Why is Nadal playing the VTR? It's a complete joke. This comeback is a joke. He could play the French Open without a single match under his belt and still win it. Watching him play Chardy, Delbonis, and G-Traver has been embarrassing, and frankly it gives no indication of how well he is actually playing. His only threat is Novak Djokovic, and the only way to gauge how well he's playing is for him to play Novak. Who else is going to beat him? Murray? Federer? Ferrer? No way. Federer couldn't beat Nadal in a game of checkers, and certainly not after seven months off the tour. If Nadal had been in a wheel chair for 24 months and not hit a single tennis ball, only then would I give Federer a chance in hell at beating him at the French Open, but it's still only like 10:9 against Nadal.

Why is Nadal playing the VTR? It's a complete joke. This comeback is a joke. He could play the French Open without a single match under his belt and still win it. Watching him play Chardy, Delbonis, and G-Traver has been embarrassing, and frankly it gives no indication of how well he is actually playing. His only threat is Novak Djokovic, and the only way to gauge how well he's playing is for him to play Novak. Who else is going to beat him? Murray? Federer? Ferrer? No way. Federer couldn't beat Nadal in a game of checkers, and certainly not after seven months off the tour. If Nadal had been in a wheel chair for 24 months and not hit a single tennis ball, only then would I give Federer a chance in hell at beating him at the French Open, but it's still only like 10:9 against Nadal.

You have to be joking. Nadal is playing badly, and not a chance would he beat any of the top guys right now. If he started out playing any of them he would lose and lose badly. He needs time to see where he's at so playing these small tournaments to test his knee is a much better decision than throwing himself to the wolves right out of the gate.

You have to be joking. Nadal is playing badly, and not a chance would he beat any of the top guys right now. If he started out playing any of them he would lose and lose badly. He needs time to see where he's at so playing these small tournaments to test his knee is a much better decision than throwing himself to the wolves right out of the gate.

It's true, it would be like 2-6 4-6 against any of the top 3 right now.

It's true, it would be like 2-6 4-6 against any of the top 3 right now.

Does that mean he has to play the VTR? No. And I don't really buy that he needs to play these tournaments to see how his knees hold up. He could benefit from one tournament, but not three, which he's going to to sweep singles and doubles. At this point, he should be focused on being as selective as possible when he plays. As far as I'm concerned, he's just adding three more weeks of mileage to his knees. He should just play singles at Acapulco at the most and leave it at that. But even if he just jumped right in at Monte Carlo, for example, he's not going to have to play one of the top three guys until the final, especially if one of them doesn't enter the event, so that's four rounds of preparation. He then has some time before Madrid to see how he recovers. And the only reason I can think for him to play these events is a) money and attention and b) because he's planning on playing the American hard court events, but if he suffers from chronic disability and he just took seven months away from the tour, why would he even consider playing hard-court events so soon?

Does that mean he has to play the VTR? No. And I don't really buy that he needs to play these tournaments to see how his knees hold up. He could benefit from one tournament, but not three, which he's going to to sweep singles and doubles. At this point, he should be focused on being as selective as possible when he plays. As far as I'm concerned, he's just adding three more weeks of mileage to his knees. He should just play singles at Acapulco at the most and leave it at that. But even if he just jumped right in at Monte Carlo, for example, he's not going to have to play one of the top three guys until the final, especially if one of them doesn't enter the event, so that's four rounds of preparation. He then has some time before Madrid to see how he recovers. And the only reason I can think for him to play these events is a) money and attention and b) because he's planning on playing the American hard court events, but if he suffers from chronic disability and he just took seven months away from the tour, why would he even consider playing hard-court events so soon?

Maybe he is just trying to make some money after the 7 months layoff induced by the silent ban.

Nope. Just pointing out the fact that Nadal is not unbeatable on clay. He can be beaten, and is especially vulnerable right now. Some Nadal fans are far too confident in his abilities. I hope the humble pie goes down smoothly when they are forced to eat it.

His only threat is Novak Djokovic, and the only way to gauge how well he's playing is for him to play Novak. Who else is going to beat him? Murray? Federer? Ferrer? No way. Federer couldn't beat Nadal in a game of checkers .

And yet, he beat him 10 times in the game of tennis.
Re-Djoko: don't raise your hopes too much: he lost all his clay matches to Rafa last year ! (but at least he won the ones vs Fed...)

Nope. Just pointing out the fact that Nadal is not unbeatable on clay. He can be beaten, and is especially vulnerable right now. Some Nadal fans are far too confident in his abilities. I hope the humble pie goes down smoothly when they are forced to eat it.

Yes, crusade. If that's your attention-getting schtick, go for it. What the hell do I care.